Monday, April 25, 2011

Ideally, I would have published this one on Saturday night, right after the show, but I was too ill to sit in front of a computer for most of the weekend. I'm here now, though, to say that the Nightwood/The Lindbergh Line gig in support of 4 Minutes To Midnight at Playhouse was as good as expected performance-wise, if not sound-wise - the guitars sounded blurred, and it was impossible to decipher what notes the girls were playing.

Be as it may, the rocking was on the spot.

And so, I bring you, for the second time, Nightwood as Video Of The Week, with a ditty called Cave Of The Spleen , from their debut release, 2008's Big City EP.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

After Game 3, which the Boston Bruins won 4-2, getting back in the series, thanks to 3 shitty goals he let in - he was out of position for most of the game, sliding across past the net's length, not covering his angles properly, etc. - he had this to say:

I think it started in the morning. Guys were horsing around in the pregame skate and weren’t ready to play. I thought we got what we deserved in the first period.

So the guys were loose and that got on your nerves, kiddo? That's why you let the Bruins score two right at the start? To teach your guys a lesson?

And here I thought you had learned from last season, you had matured, you had stopped blaming your teammates for every goal that went in. You don't have NHL hardware on your mantle, you have no right to put yourself above the team and call anyone else out, especially if you're not willing to share in on the blame.

Beating the Bruins in the playoffs is a given. Don't fuck this up. Please.

Monday, April 18, 2011

A vast majority of people turn to prayer when all else fails, even many atheists.

Last week, Thursday I think, an old man rang my doorbell, selling these cards of Blessed Anne-Marie Taigi, patron half-Saint of wives and mothers. I was in a good mood, so I immediately thought to myself ''sure, I'll give you a buck or two'' while the man was telling the cards had been blessed by a priest, that he was collecting funds for a women's shelter and so on, all noble causes, and the whole time I was thinking ''yeah, man, you made your sale, I'll give you a buck or two'' and then he said he was asking for $3 for the card, and that they'd already amassed $7800.

A quick mental calculation to make sure 7800 was divisible by 3, then I said ''alright, I was expecting 1 or 2 bucks, but I'm in a good mood, here's three''. And it felt right.

The next day, I went to purchase lottery tickets with the card in my jacket; I wanted two tickets, but the machine sold me 4, and I thought maybe the Lord was giving me a sign to pay more of these voluntary taxes for a better shot at winning. Well, no, I didn't, but I went along with the mistake anyway and paid double what I had intended for research's sake.

Turns out I didn't win anything. I was even wearing the card (in my hoodie's pouch) when I looked up the winning numbers, just in case.

The Rangers have had the Caps' number all year, and they have Henrik Lundqvist in nets to counter the Caps' 3 rookie goalies. All they need is for Marian Gaborik to wake up - and I believe he will. However, those who think Alexander Ovechkin has ''yet to prove anything'' in the playoffs, keep in mind he has 40 career points in 25 or so games... he's fully capable of taking over a series by himself if need be.

Sure, the Sabres have Ryan Miller - one of the 5 best goalies in the world for the last 5 years - in nets, but the heart and soul of their offense, Derek Roy, is injured for the long term. The Flyers may not have a clear #1 goalie, but they've proven last season that their depth both at forward and defense is more than enough to make it to the Finals. Chris Pronger may miss the first few games, so the Sabres may get an extra win out of this.

This one's a ''gimme''. They've faced each other 32 times already in the post season, with the Bruins barely winning 8 times. It doesn't matter who plays for which team, when it comes to playoff hockey, the Bs just can't get over the ghosts of the past. The Habs will win easily and people will undoubtedly claim an undeserving Carey Price will have been the reason, when it will just be history repeating itself. Watch for Price to fail in the second or third round, against a team like the Flyers. Oh, and Price's vis-à-vis, Tim Thomas, always sucks against Montréal.

Without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Pens have re-invented themselves as a hard-working, blue-collar team of grinders with a star goalie (Marc-André Fleury), and they've had a great run to finish the season, beating teams that were out of contention. But in these playoffs, they're facing Tampa's run-and-gun offense and dangerous powerplay, and it'll prove too much to handle. Watch for Dwayne Roloson, Tampa's grandfather-esque netminder, to shine under pressure.

Sure, the Canucks would rather have faced just about anyone else, but this isn't the Hawks team of seasons past. Their goaltending might have improved with rookie Corey Crawford, but the depth up-front is long gone, especially the grit Dustin Byfuglien brought to the table. Jonathan Toews will perhaps steal a game or two, but the Canucks just have too much firepower to go along with the best defense in the league. If 40+-goal man Ryan Kessler gets shut down, 35+-goal man Alexandre Burrows can take over in a snap on the Sedin twins' line. And I didn't even mention Roberto Luongo or the best shut-down third line in the game.

Sure, the Sharks are chokers and will choke again, but this Kings team has too many injuries, and the one to Anze Kopitar, especially, is one that'll prove too difficult to get over. Jonathan Quick should help Drew Doughty steal a game, maybe two, but the Kings have pea shooters that will be overwhelmed by the Sharks' second and third lines, while the first (Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley) will continue to not score.

Just like the former incarnation of their team (Winnipeg Jets), the Coyotes have the bad luck of always facing the best-balanced team in the game, with perhaps its best player (Pavel Datsyuk). And don't forget Nicklas Lidstrom, who is looking to retire on a high note with a Norris trophy, and perhaps a Stanley Cup and a Conn Smythe.

So these two teams ended up with the exact same number of points in the regular season, but one is a lot more seasoned in the playoffs (Ducks) while the other's best offensive player, Steve Sullivan - not even close to a point-per-game player - is out with an injury. I expect Pekka Rinne to steal a couple of games for the Preds with the help of Shea Weber and Ryan Suter, but I also expect this series to be Ray Emery's coming-out party for the Ducks. Also, a lot of so-called ''experts'' are all about 50-goal man Corey Perry in this series, forgetting that in the playoffs, where the checking is much tighter, the second-liners usually make the difference - and I think Saku Koivu an Teemu Selanne will do just that.

Writer, mostly, in mediums diverse and similar: musician, film-maker, poet - not the bad type, nor the pretentious type. It's more that I suck at everything except producing words and shouting ideas at people. Oh, and I'm the guy who brings you UnPop Montreal yearly, helping the little guy get a voice in this variety-deprived city.